Abstract
Social networking sites (SNSs) now serve as a primary form of communication among adolescents. Consequently, drug prevention campaigns delivered through SNSs have the potential to reach a wide network of adolescents if teens are willing to engage in the message diffusion process by commenting on, “liking,” following, creating, or sharing prevention messages with their networked peers. However, little is known about the psychosocial factors that influence adolescents’ willingness to participate in drug prevention social media campaigns. We use qualitative methods to explore reasons why adolescents may or may not want to engage in the message diffusion process. We conducted four semi-structured focus groups with a total of 33 high school students from various school- and community-based youth programs in Rhode Island. Focus groups were followed by a brief self-administered questionnaire collecting information about participants’ social media use to augment qualitative findings. Overall, findings reveal that engaging teens in the message diffusion process can be advantageous but difficult to accomplish due to multiple factors. Most notably, asking adolescents to participate in drug prevention campaigns delivered through SNSs means also asking youth to violate online norms that promote drug use, which could in turn subject them to peer reprisal. We conclude that future studies should begin to investigate strategies addressing the various challenges we identified. Meanwhile, prevention specialists should consider alternative or supplemental evidence-based approaches to drug prevention rather than invest resources into activities that may offer little return on investment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allara, E., Ferri, M., Bo, A., Gasparrini, A., & Faggiano, F. (2015). Are mass-media campaigns effective in preventing drug use? A Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal Open, 5(9), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007449.
Atkin, C., & Freimuth, V. (2013). Guidelines for formative evaluation research in campaign design. In R. Rice & C. Atkin (Eds.), Public communication campaigns (pp. 52–68). 55 City Road: SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544308449.n4.
Azofeifa, A., Mattson, M. E., & Lyerla, R. (2015). Driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and alcohol and marijuana combined among persons aged 16–25 years—United States, 2002–2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6448a1.htm.
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 210–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x.
Brown, B. (2004). Adolescents’ relationships with peers. In R. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 363–394). New York: Wiley.
Carpenter, C. S., & Pechmann, C. (2011). Exposure to the above the influence antidrug advertisements and adolescent marijuana use in the United States, 2006–2008. American Journal of Public Health, 101, 948–954. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21421952.
Collins, C. (2014). Adverse health effects of marijuana use. The New England Journal of Medicine, 371(9), 879. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc1407928%23SA3.
Epstein, M., Hill, K. G., Nevell, A. M., Guttmannova, K., Bailey, J. A., Abbott, R. D., et al. (2015). Trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence into adulthood: Environmental and individual correlates. Developmental Psychology, 51(11), 1650–1663. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000054.
Farrelly, M. C., Healton, C. G., Davis, K. C., Messeri, P., Hersey, J. C., & Haviland, M. L. (2002). Getting to the truth: Evaluating national tobacco counter marketing campaigns. American Journal of Public Health, 92(6), 901–907. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447480/.
Greene, K. (2013). The theory of active involvement: Processes underlying interventions that engage adolescents in message planning and/or production. Health Communication, 28(7), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2012.762824.
Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention. (2011). New technology tools: Using social media for alcohol, drug abuse, and violence prevention. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED538447.
Hingson, R., & White, A. (2014) New research findings since the 2007 surgeon general’s call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking: A review. Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, 75(1), 158. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24411808.
Jawad, M., Abass, J., Hariri, A., & Akl, E. A. (2015). Social media use for public health campaigning in a low resource setting: The case of waterpipe tobacco smoking. BioMed Research International. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/562586.
Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Hawkins, J., et al. (2016). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2015. Morbidity and mortality Weekly Report: Surveillance summaries, 65(6), 19–22. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/ss/ss6506a1.htm.
Lambert, D. N., Bishop, L. E., Guetig, S., & Frew, P. M. (2014). A formative evaluation of a social media campaign to reduce adolescent dating violence. JMIR Research Protocols, 3(4), e64. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.3546.
Lenhart, A. (2015). Teen, social media and technology overview 2015. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/04/PI_TeensandTech_Update2015_0409151.pdf.
Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: Teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media and Society, 10(3), 393–411. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444808089415.
Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., Duggan, M., Smith, A., et al. (2013). Teens, social media, and privacy. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy.aspx.
McHugh, M. L. (2012). Interrater reliability: The kappa statistic. Biochemia Medica, 22(3), 276–282. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23092060.
Moorhead, S. A., Hazlett, D. E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J. K., Irwin, A., Hoving, C., et al. (2013). A new dimension of health care: Systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(4), e85. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1933.
Moreno, M. A., Briner, L. R., Williams, A., Walker, L., & Christakis, D. A. (2009). Real use or “real cool”: Adolescents speak out about displayed alcohol references on social networking websites. The Journal of Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 45(4), 420–422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.04.015.
National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. (2017). New survey: Snapchat and Instagram are most popular social media platforms among American teens: Black teens are the most active on social media and messaging apps. Retrieved from http://apnorc.org/projects/Pages/HTML%20Reports/instagram-and-snapchat-are-most-popular-social-networks-for-teens.aspx.
Neiger, B. L., Thackeray, R., Van Wagenen, S. A., Hanson, C. L., West, J. H., Barnes, M. D., et al. (2012). Use of social media in health promotion: Purposes, key performance indicators, and evaluation metrics. Health Promotion Practice, 13(2), 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839911433467.
Noar, S. M. (2006). A 10-year retrospective of research in health mass media campaigns: Where do we go from here? Journal of Health Communication, 11(1), 20–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730500461059.
Parvanta, C., Nelson, D. E., Parvanta, S. A., & Harner, R. N. (2011). Essentials of public health communication [Kindle Edition]. Retrieved from http://Amazon.com.
Pornpitakpan, C. (2004). The persuasiveness of source credibility: A critical review of five decades’ evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(2), 243–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02547.x.
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2007). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner, & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0310.
Ruiter, R. A., Kessels, L. T., Peters, G. J. Y., & Kok, G. (2014). Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence. International Journal of Psychology, 49(2), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12042.
Sherman, L. E., Payton, A. A., Hernandez, L. M., Greenfield, P. M., & Dapretto, M. (2016). The power of the like in adolescence: Effects of peer influence on neural and behavioral responses to social media. Psychological Science, 27(7), 1027–1035. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616645673.
Shi, J., Poorisat, T., & Salmon, C. T. (2018). The use of social networking sites (SNSs) in health communication campaigns: Review and recommendations. Health Communication, 33(1), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1242035.
Siqueira, L., & Smith, V. C. (2015). Binge drinking. Pediatrics, 136(3), e718–e726. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-2337.
Snyder, L. B. (2007). Health communication campaigns and their impact on behavior. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 39(2), S32–S40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2006.09.004.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2017). Developing a social media plan to support substance misuse prevention efforts. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/capt/tools-learning-resources/social-media-support-prevention-efforts.
Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul, L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., et al. (2015). Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories. Psychological Bulletin, 141(6), 1178–1204. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039729.
Thackeray, R., Neiger, B. L., Hanson, C. L., & McKenzie, J. F. (2008). Enhancing promotional strategies within social marketing programs: Use of web 2.0 social media. Health Promotion Practice, 9(4), 338–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839908325335.
Turner, G., & Shepherd, J. (1999). A method in search of a theory: Peer education and health promotion. Health Education Research, 14(2), 235–247. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10387503.
Ulin, P. R., Robinson, E. T., & Tolley, E. E. (2005). Qualitative methods in public health: A field guide for applied research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wakefield, M. A., Loken, B., & Hornik, R. C. (2010). Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour. Lancet, 376, 1261–1271. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60809-4.
Winett, R. A. (1995). A framework for health promotion and disease prevention programs. The American Psychologist, 50(5), 341–350. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7762887.
Yonker, L. M., Zan, S., Scirica, C. V., Jethwani, K., & Kinane, T. B. (2015). “Friending” teens: Systematic review of social media in adolescent and young adult health care. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(1), e4. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3692.
Zukin, C., & Snyder, R. (1984). Passive learning: When the media environment is the message. Public Opinion Quarterly, 48(3), 629–638. https://doi.org/10.1086/268864.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the communities and research participants who made this project possible. The authors also express their sincerest gratitude to James Day, BS of James Day Consulting for his dedication and insightful feedback throughout the course of this research. Preliminary findings were presented as a poster, #Saywhat? Exploring ways to enhance teen involvement in substance prevention social media campaigns, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver, CO.
Funding
This work was supported in part by funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s Strategic Prevention Framework—Partnerships for Success (SPF-PFS) Grant program (SP020159). Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SAMHSA, CSAP.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.
Appendix A: Semi-Structured Guide for Focus Groups
Appendix A: Semi-Structured Guide for Focus Groups
Topic | Main questions | Follow-up Questions |
|---|---|---|
General use of SNSs | Which social networking sites (SNSs) do people your age use most frequently? | • How often are these SNSs used? • How do most people your age access SNSs? • Why are some SNSs used more than others? 1 |
Motivations for using SNSs | Why do so many people your age use social networking sites? | • What is it about SNSs that people your age like? • What don’t they like or wish was different? |
Motivations for posting online content | What types of things do people your age post about online? | • Do some posts get more or less attention than other posts? • What is the difference between posting, sharing, liking and commenting on messages? • Are there any reasons why people your age might not post something on SNSs? |
Challenges of using SNS as an intervention to reach adolescents | In the past, organizations have tried using SNSs to educate people your age about things like underage drinking and marijuana use but have not been very successful at reaching people your age. Why do you think that is? If someone your age was asked to develop their own message and then post it on social media as part of a campaign to reduce substance use, what are some reasons they may or may not want to participate? | • If we were to develop messages about living ‘above the influence’ and post them on SNSs, would people your age share, comment on, or like them? 2 • What are some positive or negative things that could happen to people your age from participating? • What do you think their messages would say or look like? |
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dunn, H.K., Pearlman, D.N., Beatty, A. et al. Psychosocial Determinants of Teens’ Online Engagement in Drug Prevention Social Media Campaigns: Implications for Public Health Organizations. J Primary Prevent 39, 469–481 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-018-0522-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-018-0522-y